Man rescued after getting lost on Rochester walking trail

Monday

Jul 17, 2017 at 5:25 PMJul 17, 2017 at 6:34 PM

By Kyle Stucker kstucker@seacoastonline.com

ROCHESTER — Rochester Police and a Strafford County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit rescued a man in a wooded area near Collins Circle early Saturday morning after he became lost and disoriented while walking along a trail.

Authorities searched the area for more than an hour and a half after the call came in around 1:40 a.m. Saturday, according to Rochester Police Capt. Jason Thomas. The 55-year-old man, who Thomas said has a diagnosed mental health condition, was not injured and did not require medical attention.

Thomas said the man got into an argument with his mother late Friday night and left the home they share off Salmon Falls Road to take a walk in the woods. A couple of hours later, the man called 911 for assistance because he was lost, according to Thomas.

Dispatchers lost the call a few times, and police logs indicate the man’s cell phone eventually was no longer active. Logs also indicate the man told dispatchers he had never walked the trails in that area before and couldn’t yell out to officers because he was fighting a chest cold.

After dispatchers learned the man’s phone was no longer active, police called for a county K-9 unit in the hopes of tracking the man. Thomas said police had a general idea of where he was in the woods, and officers located the man shortly after the K-9 unit arrived.

Paramedics evaluated the man at the scene and determined he didn’t require hospitalization. The man was brought back home to his mother following the search, according to Thomas.

It’s unknown how long the man was out in the woods.

Police cleared the scene shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday.

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